9 year old not interested

I have 4 children, boy who is 9 currently in year 4, boy 5 who is in year 1 and twin girls who are 4 and in reception.

The girls have taken to reception really well and really enjoy the learning, my 5 year old who is in year one it doing really well in everything and really enjoys the learning in school and out of school.

My 9 year old is very clever in his maths and always had a real big passion for it and is currently year 5 level. His reading and literacy is really lacking. He has no interest or passion in the subject. We just cant get him to enjoy reading. He puts no expression into his reading and tries to rush through the books. We have tried buying books he wanted like the beast quest (all his friends are reading them) to only gather dust on the book shelf.

Do you read to him? I would also try the library as a good source of books (as what everyone else likes rarely appeals to my kids). You could also try the very short stories of Paul Jennings (Unbelievable and similar titles). You could try giving him enforced reading time every day, 1/2 hour or more. You could let him read whatever he wants even Non-fiction or the Beano.Also do talk to him, why doesn't he want to read? Does the white paper hurt his eyes? Or does he have "better things" to do? Can he follow the stories?

First get him to enjoy books, so share books with him. Let him have books even if he doesn't read them. Reading to him is good, audio books can also be good.I would lay off the pressure for now.Does he read in school? Ask them about this. My DC all had to read in school even in senior school.

At a time when he and you are relaxed ask about what stresses him about reading/books. If you have a kindle see if he finds that easier.

Well I agree with letting them choose the books but I think you should also throw some good ones in to. My DH loves silly books and will only pick up something easy to read and daft - yet he has a great reading age.

My ds was the same, the first set of books he read was the Secret Seven at the beginning of Year 5. No interest before then, except Guinness World Records/encyclopedias (?sp) type of thing. He was a 'late' reader and I was beginning to despair!

But finding various series that he enjoyed really helped and when we lent him dh's e-book, well that opened up a whole new world to him! He loves gadgets and is obsessed with his i-pod and this was a similar type of thing I suppose.

He now reads before bed every night (just started Yr 7) and on holiday when he had an ear infection and couldn't go swimming, he read a whole book in one day!!!! I would never have believed he would do this when he was 9.

One thing that's worked well for me is to read the first book in a series to my kids & then if they want to know more they have to read them themselves. I did this with cs Lewis & Harry potter for ds & mr gumm & the faraway tree series (Enid blyton) for dd.

My ds is also 9 & loved beast quest a couple of years ago. But now likes Artemis fowl, edge chronicles & Michael morpurgo. The books that got him reading prolifically were horrid Henry. He also really liked superfudge & Ng kids.

Try throwing some Roald Dahl in the mix..either you reading it out loud or him reading it. DSS was massively behind and reluctant but good old Roald saved the day and he helped encourage DS2 too (who's 6). Nothing like disgusting medicine and people exploding to keep a boy engaged

Have you tried audiobooks? DS listens to those a lot, so he has had experience of hearing other people read, which helps to give the idea of pace, rhythm to reading. We arranged to have the Beano delivered every week, so he always has one on he go (and he loves getting something in the post!). Audiobooks can be expensive, but The Book People sometimes have good deals.

I have a 9 year old that would rather poke his eyes out with a sharp stick than read most of what is offered at school.I have used several different ways of getting him to read. Firstly, his interests - however banal. I get very bored (try very hard not to show it) with WW2 battle books, but he is fascinated by them, so I let him read them. He also likes 'serious' comics rather than Beano-esque. He never got into Harry Potter, Beastquest etc, but does like Diary of a Wimpy Kid - so I go with the flow.When we do school reading, we have a deal. I read some, he reads some. It is a short session, but we do it every night.His own reading material we encourage when he's not so tired - earlier in the day. He tends to read better and not rush so much.He has also been told that he has all the markers of dyslexia (by optometrist - but they tend not to formally dx). This probably hinders any enjoyment of reading when there is a constant struggle to stop the words running around the page. It may also explain why he reads better when his eyes are less tired.

Try a book he is really interested in and takes turns to read paragraphs. That way he doesn't have to do too much "work" before you read the next bit and if you model god expression, you may find he picks this up naturally without you having to focus on it. ( Is he interpreting your encouragement to read with expression as "your reading isn't good enough"?)